Measuring excited state lifetime of Rb atoms with pump-probe technique

Abstract

A technique for measuring the excited state lifetime τex of optical transitions in alkali atoms is presented. It is a form of pump-probe technique based on time-resolved optical transmission through the atomic vapor cell. This technique can serve as an alternative to the traditionally used time-resolved photofluorescence methods when measuring alkali vapor cells with heavily quenched fluorescence, where the τex is expected to be on the order of a few nanoseconds, and the highly sensitive fluorescence detectors with sub-nanosecond temporal resolution that are required may not be available. We use this technique to measure the τex of Rb atoms in vapor cells with different buffer gas pressures.